Thor 4: How Christian Bale Can Make Gorr One Of The MCU's Best Villains

Christian Bale's Gorr for the anticipated Thor: Love and Thunder has serious potential to be one of the MCU's best villains. Written and directed by Taika Waititi, just like 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, Love and Thunder is a direct sequel to the Ragnarok events and will focus on Jason Aaron's "Mighty Thor" comic. Therefore, Natalie Portman will return to the Thor universe after 2013's Thor: The Dark World, nine years ago. Ragnarok was received as a refreshing, comedic change of pace for the otherwise dark Thor movies, particularly with its interweaving of the "Planet Hulk" comic into the main storyline. Besides Portman returning as Jane Foster, confirmed Thor: Love and Thunder characters include the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, Karen Gillan's Nebula, and Jaime Alexander's returning Sif.

Love and Thunder's disclosed villain will be Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. Constantly sending unanswered prayers to the gods to end his suffering, Gorr's entire family eventually dies from the harsh conditions of the unnamed planet he comes from. Seeking revenge, Gorr bonds with All-Black the Necrosword, a powerful symbiotic weapon metaphysically tethered to a decapitated Celestial and wielded by the evil god Knull. For millennia, Gorr slays gods all over the universe with All-Black and encounters Thor for the first time in 9th Century Iceland, only for Thor to be saved by a band of Vikings. Gorr's Thor: Love and Thunder role satisfies fans' high anticipation for the villain's arrival to the MCU. He's gained much popularity despite being a relatively new Marvel creation, with his first appearance being in 2012's Thor: God of Thunder #2.

Gorr's arrival not only promises to be satisfying to viewers, but it also brings potential to the entire MCU in general. Especially with Christian Bale in the role, Gorr the God Butcher expects to keep the bar high for MCU villains moving forward. While the MCU has plenty of impressive villains, there's a lot about Gorr specifically that makes his appearance necessary for the MCU at this point. Loki even possibly set Gorr up with the killing of He Who Remains, so Gorr's MCU entry is appropriately timed. Here is what Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder can do for the MCU.

Gorr the God Butcher is a Unique Marvel Villain

Gorr the God Butcher is certainly an incredibly powerful villain, but it's not his power alone that makes him valuable to the MCU. With villains facing chemically-enhanced or genetically-modified superheroes, even literal gods, the MCU produced many overpowering foes for its characters to face. Especially after the Universe-shattering events in Infinity War and Endgame caused by the incomparable Thanos, it's hard to raise the stakes any higher for the Avengers. The MCU is improving their villains, with the formidable Kang the Conquerer now underway in Loki with a possible Kang variant appearing in Moon Knight and a confirmed role in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. However, having a brawny, apocalyptic villain alone won't cut it.

Gorr's ability to kill gods with a symbiote sword produces many opportunities for future villains in the MCU. While having an unquenchable vendetta against gods definitely makes Gorr an awesomely ruthless villain, the connection to his sword keeps him from being a kill-him-and-move-on kind of antagonist like Hela in Ragnarok. Because Gorr's Necrosword is a sentient symbiote that houses the souls of those it has slain, Gorr's very weapon is a villain unto itself with the potential of reviving villains and developing Knull and the symbiotes. Venom 2 makes Knull's arrival possible because it sets up Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock credit scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which showed a symbiote remaining before Brock goes back to his universe. Even though Thanos' Infinity Stones gauntlet is perhaps the MCU's most powerful weapon, it's still only a tool and not a character with further potential.

Gorr's Role in Thor: Love and Thunder

It's not entirely clear what Gorr's role is in Thor: Love and Thunder, but Gorr's character is instrumental in making Thor question his worth as a god. This leads to the creation of Jane Foster's Mighty Thor, who in the comics takes Mjolnir and gains Thor's powers. In the comics, Nick Fury delivers the final blow to Thor's worth by whispering "Gorr was right," but Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is not confirmed to be in Love and Thunder. Therefore, Bale's Gorr may play a more direct part in the Mighty Thor's creation.

Also, as one of the most powerful villains in the Thor comics, it may take Loki's variant trick to destroy Gorr. By being such a vindictive threat to Thor, Gorr has the possibility of introducing a lot to the MCU taken from Marvel TV shows and comics. However Gorr's story develops in Love and Thunder remains to be seen, yet his role is ripe with potential.

Why Christian Bale Will Be Great as Gorr The God Butcher

Christian Bale gorr the god butcher Thor love and thunder

Besides the A-List reputation that precedes him, Christian Bale is an excellent choice for Gorr the God Butcher. Gorr requires a particularly dark and menacing performance, which will be interesting to pull off in a comically-toned film. However, Bale's long history of award-winning roles include Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Bale's experience playing vigilantes with a troubled past, murderous yuppies with a muted psychopathic quality, and morally complex people with interesting motives gives him that needed edge to portray Gorr. What Bale's Gorr will bring to MCU's Phase 4 includes not only a promising performance, but a villain with a uniquely personal vengeance motive that gives the character an added maniacal factor. Christian Bale's famous method acting proves his extreme dedication to the craft. Not only will this dedication serve his preparation for the role, but it adds a particularly unwavering, ruthless quality to Gorr which therefore elevates the performance.

How Gorr The God Butcher Can Improve MCU Villains

Thor and a screaming Gorr the God Butcher battle in a panel from a Marvel comic book.

If Love and Thunder builds on the already high potential Gorr has for the MCU, this promises to keep villains interesting in the cinematic universe. The MCU continues to grow, with Phase 4 still slated to release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In addition, plans for Marvel's Phase 5 are getting fans excited with the MCU bringing Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four franchises from Fox. However, Marvel villains have run the risk of being too disposable. Thanos was a major step in the right direction, but villains like James Spader's Ultron in Avengers 2 and even Kurt Russell's Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 carried only enough depth to come and go within their respective films with relatively minimal promise of returning.

Gorr the God Butcher in particular has the possibility of returning throughout the MCU, especially with promises of Thor: Love and Thunder pushing boundaries and keeping Phase 4 fresh. MCU's Phase 4 is blending its ensemble of heroes more efficiently in their singular-focused films. All of Thor: Ragnarok's characters were specific to the Thor world with the only exception of Mark Ruffalo's Incredible Hulk. However, the Avengers movies helped connect heroes from different series together, thus allowing Love and Thunder to organically include the Guardians of the Galaxy. As heroes become more connected in the MCU, its villains would also benefit from returning. If villains are to be in multiple films, the MCU should take a note from Gorr the God Butcher by producing more complex and emotional antagonists. Bringing villains who always want to destroy the world, space and time, or the Universe will get old fast and lead to the MCU jumping the shark.

Thor: Love and Thunder is 2022's most exciting MCU film, partly because of the high anticipation factor Bale's Gorr the God Butcher brings. Gorr is one of Marvel's most diabolical villains who also holds a lot of substance. He'll be a refreshing villain, especially with Bale working under Waititi's direction to portray him. After having existed for the past 14 years, the MCU is one of the most successful franchises in cinematic history. However, it still needs to find ways to engage audiences if it plans to expand further. Thor: Love and Thunder is expected to be a fun July 2022 summer blockbuster, and Christian Bale as Gorr will add great value to both the film and the MCU.

Next: Thor: Love & Thunder - How Bale's Gorr the God Butcher Costume Compares To The Comics